Francis Augustine Cashman 3634A

SAPPER FRANCIS AUGUSTINE CASHMAN

3634A – 1st Tunnelling Company

Francis Cashman, the son of John and Jane Cashman, was born at Oatlands, Tasmania. He volunteered for the A.I.F. on 18 November 1915 at Ross, Tasmania, and signed the attestation papers and the Oath on the same day. On 19 November a medical examination found him fit for active service and he was given the regimental number 2475.

A 29-year-old single Miner, Francis was 5ft 8½in tall and weighed 154lbs. He had a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Francis named his mother, Jane Cashman of Zeehan, Tasmania, as Next of Kin.

Francis was transferred to the Mining Reinforcements camp at Roseberry Park, Sydney, and appointed to the 2nd Reinforcements, 3rd Mining Corps, on 2 March 1916. On 5 July, he was transferred to the Mining Reinforcements camp at Seymour, Victoria, where he continued training until 16 August 1916.

As one of the 82-member 4th Reinforcements to the Mining Corps, Francis embarked at Melbourne for service abroad on 16 August 1916 on board R.M.S. Orontes. He disembarked at Plymouth, England on 2 October and marched in to Details Company, No.3 Camp, Parkhouse, on 3 October.

He went to France on 15 October and marched in to the Australian General Base Depot at Etaples. He was attached to the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion on 11 December and on 10 January 1917 he was re-allocated the Regimental Number 3634A.

Francis reported sick on 8 February 1917 and was admitted to hospital for some dental work, rejoining the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion on 8 April. He was transferred to the 1st Aust. Tunnelling Company on 19 April where he was taken on strength on 1 February 1918.

On 29 June 1918, Francis was admitted to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital with influenza. He was transferred to 12th General Hospital at Rouen on 1 July, and, after treatment and recovery in a number of hospitals, was discharged back to the A.G.B.D. at Rouelles on 22 August, rejoining his Tunnelling Company on 1 September.

Francis was given leave from France from 25 September to 12 October 1918 and then rejoined his unit.

In October 1918, a Miss Mary Shane, of Drummoyne, NSW, wrote to Base Records in Melbourne seeking the overseas address of ‘Gus’ Cashman. She had met him while he was at Roseberry Park and had received a number of letters from him, but he did not supply a return address, evidently thinking she already had it.

Francis was again admitted to hospital with influenza on 7 December, and did not return to his unit until 17 February 1919. He marched out to the UK for repatriation on 2 April and was camped at Longbridge Deverill until 4 June 1919, when he departed London on board H.T. Aeneas. He disembarked in Australia on 13 July 1919 in the 5th Military District.

Discharged in 6th Military District on 22 September 1919, he was entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal

It is believed that Francis died in Queenstown, Tasmania on 21 August 1933.

A medical report prior to discharge recorded that although he had received no wounds, he still had some effects from the influenza and the dental work he had undergone in 1917. He had also spent 11 days in hospital on board the Aeneas with concussion, but the net result was no disability.

Francis was a Miner, not afraid of a drink on a hot day, and not intimidated by military discipline. As a result, his conduct sheet records some minor infringements that resulted in some Field Punishments and forfeiture of pay.

Note: Francis Cashman’s father, John, was the brother of Mary Cashman, mother of Sapper Patrick Lahey, 3rd Tunnelling Company.

Compiled from Military records and information provided by Francis Cashman’s grand-niece, Susan Geason ( who is also the grand-niece of John Joseph Oakford & 7470 Spr Patrick Lahey, 3rd Tunnelling Company.